Gripper for printing-presses



Y (No Model.) 1 Y JuWATSON. y

GRIPPBR `:PGR PRINTING PRESSES.

Y VPatented Jian. 7, .1896.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.,

JOSEPH WTATSON, OE NEWARK, NEW JERSEY.

GRIPPER FOR PRINTING-PRESSES.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 552,627, dated January 7, 1896.

Application filed August 15, 1895. Serial No. 559,424. (No model.)

To @ZZ whom t may concern:

Be it known that I, JOSEPH WATSON, a citizen of the United States, and a resident of Newark, in the county of Essex and State of New Jersey, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Grippers for Printing-Presses, of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to grippers used on printing-presses, and its object is to provide means by which they can be moved laterally with great accuracy and kept firmly in any desired place without the aid of a wrench or other tool, which arrangement also allows the gripper-arms to be moved and set in place, while the bed and platen of the press are in close proximity; and my invention consists of a novel combination of parts, hereinafter described, and illustrated in the annexed drawings, of which- Figure l is a perspective View of the gripper. Fig. 2 is a front elevation of the gripperplate. Fig. 3 represents an elevation ofvone of the two screw-shafts employed to set the gripper-arms. Fig. 4 is a perspective view of a gripper-arm. Fig. 5 is a transverse section through the gripper-plate.

A gripper-plate A is formed of two plates a a', joined preferably at right angles to each other and connected by a series of lugs a2, carrying bearings for the screw-shafts S, hereinafter described. Equidistant from the center of one of these plates a' are provided two slots a3, of sufficient width to receive and guide the tail ends b of the gripper-arms B. Each gripper-arm Bis provided near one end with a hub b', projecting above, through which a cavity c passes at right angles to the length direction of the gripper-arm and parallel to its lower face. This cavity c is provided with a screw-thread made to engage with that cut upon a portion of a screw-shaft S. l A screwshaft S, two of which are provided, one for each arm, is mounted at each end of the gripper-plate, and is formed of ive distinct parts. A hand-wheel h at the outer end adj oins a cylindrical portion m, the greater part of which projects from anend of a gripper-plate when mounted in place. Then follows a groove or annular recess n, which is covered by a log a2 of the gripper-plate A when in position, and which engages with a preferably rounded point of a-set-screw F, mounted in a log a2, and permits of the shaft S being turned when desired, and secures it in a iixed position to the gripper-plate laterally. lThen follows the screw-threaded portion 0 of the shaft, and iinally a trunnion P.

The operation in joining the disconnected parts of the gripper is then as follows A screwbar S is guided through abearing, in one of the end blocks a2 of the gripper-plate. A gripper-arm B is so adjusted on the gripperplate that its end h projects through a slot a? until the opening c arrives opposite the end of the screw-bar S, when the trunnion P is passed through it and the screw-threaded portion o of the shaft is screwed into the lug or hub b to any desired depth, and the motion of entering the screw-shaft is then continued until the trunnion P is resting in its socket provided in a lug a2 of the gripper-plate A. A set-screw F is now screwed into lug a2, covering a groove n in the shaft S, until its point enters the groove n and thus locks all the parts in their relative positions. This operation having been completed at both ends of the gripper-plate, and one gripper-arm and screw-shaft having been secured to each end, the gripper is ready for use. The turning of a hand-wheel h will move a gripper-arm either from or toward the center of the grippingplate. The projecting ends m m of the shafts S can now be used as trunnions for securing the gripper to the platen or to the frame of the press, the set-screws F being drawn tight to prevent the involuntary turning of the shafts S when the gripper is operated in the customary manner by means of springs, a cam, and an arm secured upon the gripperplate A. (Not especially shown in the drawings.

All the parts being in position, the operation of setting and adjusting a gripper-arm is very much simplified by using this gripper. All that is to be done in adjusting a gripper-arm is to loosen the respective set-screw F, turn the hand-wheel n until the change of position is eifected, and tighten again the set-screw F, and the press is ready for use.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

In a gripper for printing presses the com- IOO biimtion of gripper-arms B having hubs l)l York and State of New York, this 14th day of with Jche angular gripper-plate A having lugs CL2 and slots CL3, with the screw-shafts S having hand-wheels h and with the set-screws F as and for the purposes herein shown zuid described.

Signed at New York, inthe County of New August, A. D. 1895.

JOSEPH XVATSON.

Witnesses:

HENRY C. MECKLEM, Jr., A. F. STEWART. 

